RM> Hippocrates used it (infusion of willow bark) in 400 BC, and it
 RM> was identified and purified in 1899.

 BL> 1893... I've got Encarta too. It's a wonderful
 BL> brain-substitute.

 RM> No got that one. I'm waiting for Britanica to come down to a
 RM> reasonable price. I expect to live for several millennia, of
 RM> course. The date i quoted was from the NS article.

  That's alright. I made it up anyway.

 BL> BTW, aspirin is no longer the preferred anti-inflammatory for
 BL> arthritis. Diclofenac is flavour of the month.

 RM> Did they tell you any reason? (just curious)

  I don't know. In hospital I overheard a discussion bewteen the
doctor and the fat lady whose heart attack turned out to be arthritis
of the ribs, and the doctor was adamant that Voltaren had it all over
Aspirin. Mum has a cast-iron stomach, but they put her on Voltaren
anyway, so it's more than the bleeding problem of aspirin.

 RM> NO can also help protect the tummy against ulcers, so work is
 RM> being done on slow release NO drugs.

 BL> the Australian work on stomach bacteria has made peptic ulcers
 BL> a dead issue.

 RM> More info? "Dead issue" as in "they're easily
cured"? If the
 RM> stomach's mucous lining gets thin, then stomach acid will
 RM> cheerfully do the damage, with or without the specialist bugs.

  I'll be able to tell you more in a fortnight after I've seen the the
specialist to have my ulcers cured, but as far as I understand it, the
work which claimed 60% of ulcers were caused by helicobacter pylori
has grown to 100%, and stomach cancer has been added to the list.
Acidity is a symptom, not the cause. It seems they have found the
*cause* of ulcers... a germ. They kill it and you're cured.

  The latest "killer" antacid pill is LOSEC. Zantac and the 
H2-antogonists are passe.

Regards,
Bob
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
@EOT:

---